SyFy - The Expanse (Season 2) (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

The Expanse returns February 1. And thanks to The Alamo Drafthouse, I'm going for a cinematic early viewing of the first two episodes!

Season 1 thread

 

[DaveF]

Tonight I watched the Season 2 premiere, episodes one and two, as a 90 minute movie.

Without any details or spoilers, the show picks up from season one, while focusing the storyline. It was a strong start. I look forward to rewatching when it airs on SyFy this Wednesday, to get some details I missed.

 

[Hanson]

The show is getting better and better. Eps 3 & 4 were real corkers, and I love the way the show fetishes the nuts and bolts of the spacecraft tech. Not content with having CGI spaceships, they all have little thrusters and doohickey's to give it all a sense of "realism". Just the fact that they took 5 minutes to show a ship launching is a testament to how invested they are into showing the geeky minutiae. And I loved every second. In Star Trek, a photon torpedo is a sparkly dot. In The Expanse, the missile drops, fires thrusters, shoots side thrusters to orient itself, then turns on the afterburners en route to its target. In the previous episode, rail gun projectiles made Swiss cheese out of the Rosi hull, but they're prepared for it by venting the ship's atmosphere and wearing environmental suits. The elaboration creates a rarely seen verisimilitude for a show like this, probably never before on a budget like this.

It took me a long time to warm up to this show -- I didn't really love it until season 2 episode 3 -- but the past two episodes have been top tier sci-fi. I might even rewatch the first season because it really took me a long time to connect with what the show was doing, and now that I realized what this show is, I will probably enjoy those episodes more.

 

[Hanson]

This show is so fucking good right now. I admit I kind of slogged my way through some of season one, but season 2 has been lean and gripping. Had they condensed the first fifteen episodes to 10 and made it season one, it would have been a masterpiece.

 

[Josh Dial]

[No spoilers]

To Hanson's point, the latest episode marked the end of the first novel (which are all awesome). I think it's interesting that the first season didn't end at the first book, and the second season is--apparently--looking to start the second book part-way through (and not exactly half-way, either). Perhaps that's evidence that unlike other adaptations, the showrunners are simply "spending" how ever many episodes are needed to tell the story. If this is the case, it's quite refreshing.

Perhaps if--like the novels--Avasarala and Bobby weren't in the first season, the show could have fit the first book (15 episodes) into one season (10 episodes). However, their inclusion really fleshed out the Earth and Mars sides of the equation, so I think it was a good call. I could do with a bit more of Avasarala swearing every third word, though.

 

[Walter Kittel]

To Hanson's point, the latest episode marked the end of the first novel (which are all awesome). I think it's interesting that the first season didn't end at the first book, and the second season is--apparently--looking to start the second book part-way through (and not exactly half-way, either). Perhaps that's evidence that unlike other adaptations, the showrunners are simply "spending" how ever many episodes are needed to tell the story. If this is the case, it's quite refreshing.

That's good to know. I watched episode five earlier today and was wondering where the show was headed after the final scene which seemed to finish up matters. I like the idea of the show taking enough time to tell a story properly and not being constrained by the dynamics of show seasons (within reason, of course.)

I haven't read the source novels, so I have no idea where the show is going after episode five.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

"The Expanse" Cancelled by Syfy

The cable network is reportedly moving away from shows in which NBC Universal doesn't have an ownership stake.

 

[Josh Dial]

Looks like it's more a case of the distributor not wanting to distribute the show any longer (for various economic reasons). The show is being shopped elsewhere.

 

[Sam Posten]

Netflix ho!

 

[Simon Massey]

Hope so - this has been consistently great and I’m sure there is no way Season 3 will finish the story which will be incredibly annoying

 

[Sean Bryan]

Well, there’s always wrestling and Sharktopus sequels. Class act SyFy!

 

[Sean Bryan]

Seriously, what a freaking stupid decision. They are the freaking “SYFY” channel and one of the best sci-fi shows on TV isn’t what they want on their network?

Ugh. Sadly, we’ve been here before. Several times. What the Frell!

Hopefully it is picked up by another network.

 

[jcroy]

What the Frell!

Oh Frak!

 

[DaveF]

Very disappointing. This is a superb sci-fi show — a superb show of any genre — and I was hoping for six to nine seasons per the book series. Hopefully a streaming company like Netflix or Amazon will pick it up.

 

[Dave Upton]

You can support the petition to get it picked up elsewhere here:

https://www.change.org/p/amazon-or-netflix-please-buy-the-rights-to-the-expanse-savetheexpanse

 

[joshEH]

If Amazon has a billion dollars to throw at a Lord of the Rings series that nobody asked for, they should be able to spare a couple-dozen million for another couple of seasons of The Expanse. But they've also been cancelling all their cheap shows, so who the hell knows what's going on with them.

YouTube Red only has one notable show (Cobra Kai), and they really want to enter this original-content streaming market...and with Google's deep pockets behind them, that might be a good option.

I don't really care where it lands, as long as it lands somewhere that won't instantly kneecap its creative direction with constant studio-demands.

 

[Sean Bryan]

After watching the show last night I felt kinda angry. It's just so damn good that it is offensive to think SyFy doesn't want it anymore.

By the way, be sure to check out their new sci-fi/horror space show this Fall. Step right up! If it good and you like it, they'll toss it to the curb.

 

[Richard V]

Not so surprised, they also cut Battlestar Galactica loose, I feel it still had more story to tell.

 

[DaveF]

S3 is racing forward. And after the events of this week's episode, it's all the more dismaying that S3 is it.

Spoiler

UNN Agatha King is overtaken.
Liftoff from Venus!

I'll be starting the books later this year.

 

[Dave Upton]

S3 is racing forward. And after the events of this week's episode, it's all the more dismaying that S3 is it.

Spoiler

UNN Agatha King is overtaken.
Liftoff from Venus!

I'll be starting the books later this year.

I'm about to start on the books soon myself. I remain hopeful that someone can be found to bankroll and distribute future seasons - lord knows it's a lower risk than a new untested title. I still wonder why Netflix passed - I can only assume it has to do with their desire to own all rights, instead of sharing the proceeds with Alcon.